“Chippah”

December 21, 2012

I feel like I haven’t written about my CrossFit workouts lately. We actually did “Fran” on Monday, which is THE benchmark workout in CrossFit, so I want to make sure I blog about it. Well, I improved my Fran time by 6 minutes!!! Woohoo! Ok, my last Fran attempt was an absolute disaster, but I still managed a faster time, so I’m happy. I used 55 pounds instead of 65 pounds for the Thrusters and went down a band from a 2 to a 1. I did the Thrusters unbroken without much trouble, but the pull-ups (like always) slowed me down. I’m getting better at them, but they still kick my ass in workouts.

I actually thought I didn’t go hard enough on Fran (I was dillydally-ing with the chalk and resting), but I woke up SO sore the next morning! And I was STILL sore yesterday! Fran is no joke!

Workout

Yesterday’s WOD was my favorite kind: a “chipper”””or as we say on the South Shore a “chippah.” (Our coaches also sometime write PR as “PAHH” after people’s names on the whiteboard. Love it!) A “chipper” is typically a longer workout with lots of different exercises and high reps, so you “chip away” to get through it. Endurance-style workouts with lots of variation are my absolute favorite way to workout, so I was psyched for yesterday’s WOD.

80 Kettlebell Swings: Used the Rx weight (25-pounds) and did ”˜em unbroken

70 Box Jumps: OMG. I can usually kill Box Jumps (I sort of love them), but after 90 Air Squats and 80 KB Swings, my legs were dead. Toward the end, I ended up splitting the Box Jumps into sets of 5.

60 Push-ups: I did about 5 Push-ups and immediately knew there was no way I could do 55 more without going to my knees, so I did modified Push-ups, which were still frickin’ hard.

50 K2E: I can’t do Knees-to-Elbows (major GOAT for me), so I did Kipping Knee Raises, which are still really challenging. I ended up breaking the 50 into sets of 10.

40 Pistols (20 each): I love Pistols. Busted these out by doing 4 sets of 5 on each leg.

30 KB Push Press (15 each): Broke these into 3 sets of 5 for each arm. They weren’t bad at all.

20 Strict Chin-ups: This was the worst part of the workout for me. I got through 10 reps without the help of a band, so I figured I should finish without a band, which was a bad decision. I ended up doing the last 10 reps one at a time, which ate up a ton of time on the clock.

10 Ring Dips: My arms were completely smoked after the Chin-ups, so I used a band for the dips and broke them into sets of 2 and 3 to finish.

Lunch

After CrossFit, I came home and threw together an early lunch, which was a piece of Light & Cheesy Egg Bake on a gluten-free English muffin.

I actually bought the Food for Life Multigrain Gluten-Free English muffins awhile ago, and they’ve been sitting in our freezer for weeks and weeks now, but I can’t bare to waste food, so I continue to eat them. They’re rubber-y and tasteless, and I will not buy them again. Ha! I just got worked up about an English muffin. LOL! I guess I had high hopes for them.

After I ate my egg sandwich, I dug into a red velvet cake pop that some amazing person made for the members at our box. It was fabulous! I love cake pops in a major way.

Snowflake Project for Newtown

A reader sent me this info about a “Snowflake Project” for the children of Sandy Hook Elementary, and I just wanted to pass along the info. It sounds like a really neat project, especially if you’re a teacher.

A building has been designated (Chalk Hill Middle School) for the children of Sandy Hook Elementary. They are in the process of transporting desks, chairs, supplies and so forth to this location. The Newtown PTA wants to make the children comforted upon their return to school. Please join us in the “Snowflake Project”.

We are asking students to make and decorate a snowflake. They will be hung in the hallways of their new school. Please no words. We want just a cheerful, happy (glitter & sparkle) environment for the students when entering their new building.

Please pass along to any teachers/daycares you think would want to participate.

When sending your snowflakes, please include a note to tell us where they are from (school, class, town, state) to display along with your snowflakes. Please send to: